Liquid and gas contacting columns and their tray structures



Mays, 1958 A. L. KoHL ET AL 2,833,527

n LIQUID AND GAS coNTAcTING coLUMNs v AND THEIR TRAY STRUCTURES Filed June 6, 1955 United States Patent() LIQUID AND GAS CONTACT INGCOLUMNS AND THEIR TRAY STRUCTURES Arthur L. Kohl, Whittier, Richard vS. De Wolfe, La

Canada, and Robert L. So'lnclr', Whittier, Calif., as"- signors to The Fluor Corporation, Ltd., Los Angeles, Calif.,-a corporation of California Application June 6, 1955, Serial No. 513,208,

.3 Claims. (Cl. 261-11) This invention relates to improvements in liquid and gas or vapor contacting columns useable for any of such various purposes as rectifiers, fractionatin-g columns, stills, absorbers and the like. In their general construction such columns comprise a vertical shell containing series of trays over which liquid passes downwardly in contact with gas rising within or through th'e trays, the gas being withdrawn from the top of the column and the liquid from its base. y

The invention is more particularly concerned with 'irnprovements in such columns designed for indirect heat exchange between a confined heating or cooling fluid with the liquid on one or more of the trays. has been customary to -place tubes in coiled or otherwise assembled form on the trays, and to employ header-'con'- nections outside the shell for passing the coolingor heating fluid serially or selectively through the different tray In the 'past it tube assemblies, or to have the lheat exchangers external to the column, withdrawing fluid from the columnr for heating or cooling and readmitting same to the column. Accordingly, the conventional' practices have necessitated separate fabrication of -the trays and tube coils, and manifolding piping in accordance with the number. and relation of trays carrying the tube coils.

The present invention has for one of its major objects to provide a novel tray construction so designed and fabricated that the heating or coolingfluid is circulated `within the general-ly sheet form or structure of the t'r'ay itself, as distinguished from an independent coil 'or tube varrangement supported on or directly' above the' tray. Thus, whereas the transference of heat in the usual manner between the liquid on a trayl anda conventional pipe coil, occurs independently of and can result from no Sheating or cooling of the tray itself, the invention permits heat transmission between the liquid and the metal ltray itself through the liquid-tray interface and across the entire` area of the tray and also to the vapor below' the tray. As willv appear, .the invention is applicable to the provision for internalv cooling or heating of individual trays, with or withoutv interconnections or manifolding outside ther column, or to the formation `of a series of trays so interconnected by a continuance iof thetray for-ming sheet material, as to provide forseries Iow interconnections entirely within the column, between several trays. j

ln its more specific aspects, thel invention is directed to the formation of trays for liquidand gas contacting columns, using superposed metal sheets which are pressure bonded to a state of integrationthroughout one portion of the sheet area, the sheets beingA unbonded at-their interfaces throughout the extent ofone or 4more 'heating or cooling iluid passages which are for-med byinternal pressure expansion of the sheets at the predetermined location of the passage or passages between them. For further details concerning methods and vmaterials useable to pressurev bond metal laminations ywith fluidl vpassages formed between them, reference may be 'had to Patent 2,833,527 Patented May y6, 1958 ICC 2 No. 2,690,002, issued September 28, Grenell.

Contemplated also is a novel tray structure so formed as to accomplish distributed flow of gas upwardly through the tray into the liquid thereon, by openings )positioned in the tray in olf-set relation `to the heating or cooling lluid passages, the form and distribution of the openings' being variable in accordance with different specifictray de,- signs. Typically the `gas-passing openings may^have the form ofl lrelatively small size perforations uniformly distributed throughout areas of the pressure bonded por-` tions of the composite tray-forming sheet, between the Huid passages. l l

The above-mentioned features and objects of the invention, as `well as various additional details such asove'rflow pipe or weir arrangements applicable to' different specific tray designs, will be understood more fully from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment shown by the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a vie-w showing in vertical section a liquid and gas contacting column containing interconnected trays o the continuous series design referred to above;

Fig'. 2 is a cross-section on line 2--2 of l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view showing in fragmentary vertical section a column containing a variational form of'try str-'ucture; and

Fig. 5 is a cross-section on line 5&5 ofFi'g. 4.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the shell '10y may be regarded as typical of any suitable form of liquid and gas contacting` column which, for example, may have a gas inlet 110, bottom liquid draw-'off line 11 and' top vapor' gas outlet' 12'. The .column containsa seriesof Avertically spaced trays generally indicated at 13 square oi-"rectargti 1954, to L.

'lar in plan, as viewed in Fig. 2, and interconnected for series new of a 'heating or cooling Huid through them, as will presently appear. As sho'v'vn` in Fig'. 3,v the trays are formedA of a pair of superposed vsheetsvlit Yand 15, made for example of an aluminum alloy. The sheets 14 and' 15 are pressure bonded together in the plane yrepresented by the broken line 16, which originally had'been the' interface between the sheets, by the application toy the sheets of pressures-of such magnitude as to` fuse 'the' sheets v together at the interface 16 to a condition of such integraingV material which in the process of pressure bondingv together the laminations, prevents their cohesion at the location of the passages. 'After bonding .together the laminations between the passage locations,.the passages 1'7 themselves are formed into the` expanded conditigm. ilfl'ustrated, by the introductiony of uid under .such high pressure as to bulge the laminations and thus enlarge the passage areas to the extent required forthe free flow of Huid therethrough. v

i The tray series may be formed as a unit 'and from' a continuous sheet of the pressure bonded laminations 14 andy 1-5, thek composite sheet having .the .generalforrn of a ribbon doubled upon itself as shownv inFifg. l to form vertically extending portions 18 alternately at' opposite sides of the horizontal tray portions 13. Passages '17 thus extend longitudinally within the entire trayforming' ribbon, and continuously through the vtray, portions 13 and the interconnecting vertical portions 11:8, seither. heating or cooling uid` introduced tnrou'g'ltline 21 into head 20 which connects with passages 17 open- 4fer conditions` across the area ofthe plate; -in Fig.` 5, theV passage 33, to which fluid is supplied through'line 34, may extend circularly within the plate,` reversing itself at 35 in'continuing to the outlet connec-` weer ing through the bottomvtray 13a and 18a, may ow npwardly through all the trays into a top header 201 connecting with the passages inthe uppermost trayr13b and thence into discharge line 19. j

Referring Vto Fig. 2, the spaces at 22 between opposite sides ofthe trays 13, are closed by plates 23 `welded or otherwise sealed to the shell and edges of the trays. Similarlyfthe spaces at the bottoms of the downflow passages 24, see Fig. l, are` closed by plates 25. Each of thertrays` 13 carries an upstanding weir 26 which extends horizontally to the shell' wall, the purpose of which lis tomaintain on the trays a minimum liquid level corresponding to the weir elevation above the tray. Liquid overowingthe weir gravitates through passages 24l and openings 27 in the tray forming sheet, positioned closely above the` tray surface and between the passages 17. Liquid to` be .carried `by the trays may be present in `the column from ,any of `various possible sources, such as by introductionthrough one or more inlet lines `28 and 29. .As will be understood from the foregoing, liquid` introduced to the top of the column ows across the trays alternately in opposite directions in the course of `its travel over the weir 26 into the down passages 24 andthence through openings 27 onto' the tray surfaces; the liquid finally discharging into the bottom ,of the shell for withdrawal through line 11.

`Gas introduced to the bottom of the columnthrough line 10,l as well as any gases` or `vapors liberated `from the liquid; on thetrays, ow upwardly in generally counterfcurrent` relation to the down-owing liquid,

through 4perforations 30 extending through the tray` sheets in offsetrelation tto the passages 17. Depending `uponsuch considerations as the design capacity of the column, the upei'forations` 30 may be provided in such number, f size and arrangement aswill attord generally distribution of'the rising gas within the liquid carrying .areal ofthe trays 13. l

andextents vso as to effect generally uniform heat trans As shown tion-36.l vAs `will be understood Awithout necessity for further illustration, the` lines 34 `anda as provided for the individual trays, 'may be interconnected by any suitable manifolding arrangement, depending upon the` number and relation of the trays requiring heatingor cooling. As before,` liquid on the trays is contacted with rising gas or vapor streams passing through'perforations '37 located in the plate between and at the outside of passages33j`q'1`he liquid on-each of the trays overows onto the ti'ay below by a suitable arrangement of passages typified by the overflow pipes '38, the particular form,` number and arrangement of which may be varied in accordance with known practices in the art, of which the representation of simple overow pipes at 38 is to be regarded asillustrative only.` We claim: Y y

` v1. A liquid and gas contacting column,` comprising a vertically extending shell, means. for introducing` a tray structure in the shell .formed of a pair of superposed metal sheets in the shell bonded integrally together at localized areas and deformed to form a series of vertically spaced horizontal uid contacting trays in the shell on which the liquid accumulates as it falls downwardly through the shell, said bonded sheets being deformed to first extend horizontally near the upper end of the shell to form a rst of said trays, then extendvertically downwardly near a tirstside of the shell, then extend horizontally toward a second and opposite side of the shell to form a second tray spaced beneath the irst, then extend downwardly at that second side of the shell, and then continue with similar alternate horizontal tray portions and connecting vertical extents throughout said entire series of trays, said two metal sheets forming between them a plurality of spaced essentially parallel heat exchange tuid conducting passages extending continuously within said alternate horizontal and vertical extents of the sheets, the vertical extents of the metal sheets being spaced from the adjacent side walls of the shell to form therewith downspaces through which the liquid may fall downwardlyvfrom the level of one tray to the level of the next tray, weir plates projecting above the upper surface levels of said trays at the locations of said vertical extents of the sheets and preventing tlow of said liquid from one tray into the adjacent downspace until the liquid reaches a predeten ,mined level overflowing the weir, the space between each tray and the shell wall being essentially closed against liquid downtlow therethrough except at the location of the associated downspace and Weir, essentially horizontal walls closing off the bottoms of said downspaces at a location preventing the liquid in each of said downspaces from falling downwardly therein past approximately the level of the next successive tray, the vertical extents of said sheets containing openings which extend through the sheets at locations offset from and isolated from said passages and through which liquid may ow from each of said downspaces onto the nextsuccessive horizontal tray formed by the sheets, `the horizontal tray forming portionsof the sheets containing openings extending therethrough at locations offset from and isolated from said passages between the sheets and of a size for passing gas upwardly through the trays and into liquid .standing thereon while holding liquid on the trays -a' uid passage 33which may have any of various shapes liquid-into the upper end of saidjshellto fall downwardly therethrougmmeans, for passing a gasupwardly against downow through said openings, said two metal sheets being integrally bonded together adjacent the ,locations of said openings in both the vertical and horizontal extents thereof to isolate the passages against communication with the liquid and gas owing through said openings.

2. A` liquid and gas contacting column as recited in claim l, in which saidtshell is cylindrical, and said vertical sheet portions extend chordwise of the shell.

3. A liquid and gas contacting column as recited in claim 1, including inlet and outlet ducts extending between upper and lower ends of'said passages and the outside of the shell.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS France May 31,1943 

